Tottenham Hotspur badly misplayed the winter transfer window. They were initially fixated on Antoine Semenyo, a dream target they unwisely did not make a stronger play for in the summer window when he was available from Bournemouth, and after he reached new heights, they were quickly removed from contention with the player rejecting Spurs before the winter window even officially opened.
Semenyo joined Manchester City, but instead of being able to take advantage of his move to the Etihad by at least poaching one of their wingers, Tottenham came up empty handed with neither Savinho nor Omar Marmoush moving. And then, they did not even sign the next best winger on the market, Ademola Lookman, allowing him to join the same side that eliminated them from the Champions League, Atletico Madrid.
Tottenham are still after Savinho and have a legitimate chance at signing the Brazilian winger, but now they are battling with Manchester City for a transfer target that will be even more expensive - and that Roberto De Zerbi wants to bring to Spurs even more badly.
Manchester City are rivaling Tottenham again
According to a report from The Athletic's Daniel Taylor, in addition to wanting to sign Elliott Anderson of Nottingham Forest (widely viewed as their main midfield target this summer), Manchester City are giving genuine consideration to signing Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United - the very same Tonali that Tottenham Hotspur are pushing harder than any other club to sign.
Tonali is from Brescia. De Zerbi is from Brescia. Tonali is an exciting athlete who can run the pitch and create chances. De Zerbi wants to sign midfielders who are more robust and able to progress the ball. He is a perfect fit on paper for Tottenham and someone who could very much finally break out as a world class player in the proper system, especially under a coach smitten with him like De Zerbi.
But Tottenham have already been embarrassed by Manchester City on the transfer market before. They missed out on a trio of targets that would have transformed their entire team in Marc Guehi, Rayan Cherki, and Antoine Semenyo, all to Man City just last season.
Spurs cannot afford to have that happen again with Tonali. This is a player who could cost 100 million euros and has not been at that level for a couple of years now, but this is also a player who has not been maximized by Newcastle after being abandoned by AC Milan when he should not have been. Tottenham need to go in guns blazing and cannot be the victims again. Just as with Jan Paul van Hecke, Spurs need to show this is a new Tottenham and get their guy over an elite club.
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